ST. LOUIS -- The same old questions surfaced during another of St. Louis Rams coach Jim Haslett's Monday post-mortem sessions with the media.

Haslett's answers show how frustrated he's feeling over the Rams' current seven-game losing streak.

"We can't commit turnovers, we can't put the ball on the ground, we can't miss field goals," Haslett said. "That's kind of an on-going thing I have been saying to you guys for the last four or five weeks. Hopefully, it will set in here."

The Rams committed three turnovers, including two that directly resulted in touchdowns, in their 34-10 loss to the Arizona Cardinals on Sunday.

"Obviously, three turnovers and a missed field goal, that's the stuff you have to eliminate," Haslett said. "If you take the scores from yesterday and go through the league and see the team's that lost, you'll see that turnovers are a big factor in it."

The Rams (2-11) are one loss away from equaling their longest losing streak since the team moved to St. Louis in 1995.

The Rams lost eight straight games in 1997 in Dick Vermeil's first season and they lost eight straight games to start the 2007 season under Scott Linehan.

Haslett took kicker Josh Brown to task for being wide right on a 42-yard field goal attempt with 2:47 left in the second quarter against the Cardinals.

"I think it was the most disappointing play of the game," Haslett said. "You have a chance to keep it within a score in the first half -- and we actually settled down in the second half -- and we missed a field goal and let it get away from us."

Brown has misfired on his first field-goal attempt in three of the team's last four games. He missed a 48-yarder against San Francisco and a 40-yarder against Chicago.

"I think that is the third time in the last four weeks that has happened," Haslett said. "The guy is a good kicker. I have seen him kick every day in practice. Last week against Miami, he was 4-for-4. Why he gets these, I don't know."

Overall, Brown has been solid this season. He's 24-for-29 on field goals and 13-for-13 on PATs.

The Rams have committed 21 turnovers in their last six games after committing only seven turnovers in their first six games.

"The fumbles, you just have to hold onto them," Haslett said. "We work it. We try to strip the ball in practice."

Rams running back Steven Jackson fumbled twice in the third quarter against the Cardinals with his second bobble doing to Darnell Dockett for a 11-yard fumble return for a touchdown. Cardinals linebacker Gerald Hayes forced both of the fumbles.

"He's disappointed," Haslett said of Jackson. "Hayes made a nice play and ripped one out, and the other one (Jackson) was just trying to make a play. The guy came unblocked and he spun on him, and he just happened to hit the ball. I'm sure he is disappointed and he feels bad about it, but on the spin move, he is just trying to get away from the guy. It's just one of those plays where (Hayes') helmet hit the ball, and the ball popped out."

The Rams' defense allowed the Cardinals to score touchdowns on their first two offensive drives.

The Rams now have been outscored 117-47 in the first quarter this season.

"We got a little more aggressive as the game went on," Haslett said of his defense. "We weren't really sure what we were going to get right away. That's kind of our M.O. ( modus operandi ) on defense right now. After we give up something, we've settled down for whatever reason. We need to start faster. We need to do a better job of holding teams."

The Rams' defense surrendered only 58 yards and three first downs in the second half, but that wasn't enough to keep the Cardinals from celebrating their first division title since 1975 as the St. Louis Cardinals.

"That's a good football team that we played," Haslett said. "I said going into the season that was the team to beat to win the division, and if I had one thing right this year, that was it. We had our chances to get back into the game, and get it to a one score game, and every time we thought we got to that point, we'd mess it up. We never really got in striking distance.

The Rams play their next two games at home. They'll play the Seattle Seahawks (2-11) at noon Sunday at the Edward Jones Dome in a battle of NFC West bottom dwellers.

"They have a lot of injuries, they're playing with a lot of different people," Haslett said of Seahawks are in the same boat as the Rams. "I thought they played pretty well the other day against New England (in 24-20 loss). Obviously not having their quarterback healthy all year, being beat up on the outside and losing their receivers kind of plays into why they are in the situation that they are in."

They Rams will play the San Francisco ***** (5-8) at noon Dec. 21 at the Edward Jones before closing out the season on the road against the Atlanta Falcons (8-5) at noon Dec. 28

Haslett said right tackle Alex Barron, who was scratched from the starting lineup on Sunday as his punishment for being late for a team meeting on Friday, will start against the Seahawks.

"He was late for a meeting, and he paid his debt to society," Haslett said.

-12-09-2008

bigredman

Re: Haslett explains causes of losing streak

Rather long winded. Couldn't he just say "WE SUCK"?

-12-09-2008

ramfan247

Re: Haslett explains causes of losing streak

I hear everything he is saying but the truth clearly is that the reason they aren't getting any production is because no one is showing up. There are NO play-makers on this team right now. Even one might be able to get things rolling enough to win a game. But right now everyone is clearly looking forward to their off season plans.

-12-09-2008

Goldenfleece

Re: Haslett explains causes of losing streak

Quote:

Originally Posted by RamWraith

Haslett took kicker Josh Brown to task for being wide right on a 42-yard field goal attempt with 2:47 left in the second quarter against the Cardinals.

"I think it was the most disappointing play of the game," Haslett said. "You have a chance to keep it within a score in the first half -- and we actually settled down in the second half -- and we missed a field goal and let it get away from us."

Oh, sure, blame it on the kicker. If not for that miscue, we might have only lost by 21 points. Very disappointing.

Quote:

Originally Posted by RamWraith

"The fumbles, you just have to hold onto them," Haslett said. "We work it. We try to strip the ball in practice."

On the upside, Atogwe seems to have learned a lot from fumble practice even if the runningbacks haven't.

-12-10-2008

Truth

Re: Haslett explains causes of losing streak

Quote:

Originally Posted by RamWraith

Haslett took kicker Josh Brown to task for being wide right on a 42-yard field goal attempt with 2:47 left in the second quarter against the Cardinals.

"I think it was the most disappointing play of the game," Haslett said. "You have a chance to keep it within a score in the first half -- and we actually settled down in the second half -- and we missed a field goal and let it get away from us."

A missed field goal was the most disappointing play of the game!?! You've got to be kidding me. Does Haslett actually attend these "games"? OK, if we were losing games by 1,2 or 3 points I might understand his comment. But, we're not even close to being competitive right now. I can understand trying to motivate your kicker. However, our kickers are FAR from the biggest issues we have. Call him out for some of his recent misses? OK. But calling that miss the most disappointing play? C'mon Man!!

-12-10-2008

Keenum

Re: Haslett explains causes of losing streak

To me, the reason we are losing is simply we are not playing well at all. Jackson, Bulger, O-line, DBs, you can look all around the team and find they just are not playing at a high level, and I've been a little concerned at times if they are giving their full effort or not (I know a few of them didn't under Linehan).

He loves to give long repetitive answers Red, (you know this by now). Is he getting paid by the hour for this Jib Jab?

Quote:

Originally Posted by bigredman

Rather long winded. Couldn't he just say "WE SUCK"?

-12-10-2008

ScottD413

Re: Haslett explains causes of losing streak

Quote:

"I think it was the most disappointing play of the game," Haslett said. "You have a chance to keep it within a score in the first half -- and we actually settled down in the second half -- and we missed a field goal and let it get away from us."

Really? Jim has lost his mind...

-12-10-2008

AvengerRam

Re: Haslett explains causes of losing streak

Being able to describe what went wrong is easy.

I want a Head Coach who can tell me how he's going to fix the problems.

-12-10-2008

MoonJoe

Re: Haslett explains causes of losing streak

Quote:

Originally Posted by AvengerRam

Being able to describe what went wrong is easy.

I want a Head Coach who can tell me how he's going to fix the problems.

AV I would also add that I would like a GM and an owner to tell me the very same thing. It all starts at the top in my opinion.